Sourcery

Inside a16z’s Growth Bets on Waymo, ElevenLabs, Coinbase, Robinhood, Stripe, Revolut & Kalshi

129 snips
Mar 13, 2026
Alex Immerman, General Partner on a16z Growth investing across AI, fintech, and autonomous vehicles. He dives into how a16z finds and scales category leaders. Conversation hits Waymo’s autonomous-driving strategy and market dynamics. ElevenLabs’ voice AI breakout and defensibility. Kalshi’s regulated prediction-market approach. Why private markets now capture outsized growth opportunities.
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ANECDOTE

Waymo Took Market Share With A Small Fleet

  • Waymo scaled quickly in San Francisco to ~25% market share with few cars, constrained mainly by fleet size and limited highway/airport access.
  • Alex notes only ~1,000 cars in the Bay Area and Waymo is expanding to 20+ new cities this year, showing utilization and brand pull.
INSIGHT

Self Driving Value Accrues To The Driver Operator

  • Value in autonomous mobility will accrue to the operator making the driver (the self-driving stack) rather than to high-margin software alone.
  • Alex explains Waymo could run city fleets (lower margin) or outsource ops (higher margin), but it's never pure high-margin software.
INSIGHT

Waymo Full Stack Looks Safer Than Tesla FSD Today

  • Waymo's full-stack approach (including lidar) currently appears safer than Tesla's camera-only FSD, though FSD shows promising improvement.
  • Alex points to Waymo's lower disengagements and reported accidents as evidence of lead.
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